There are rules and regulations that restrict online gambling games, and some states even completely outlaw them. I just finished reading up on the legalities of gambling, including lotteries.
- What the States say:
"What the States Say
Elements of Gambling:
Most states
regulate these activities by prohibiting
illegal lotteries. In states where
lotteries are legal, they typically
authorize state-run lotteries but
prohibit private-sector lotteries.
In most states, an illegal lottery or
gambling involves three elements:
1.
Payment of some form
of consideration by user
2.
Result determined by chance
3.
Award/prize, something of value
In general, if all three elements are
present, that offering may be an illegal
lottery and may be considered
gambling. If any of these elements is
removed, the offering will generally
fall outside the anti-lottery/gambling
laws. If payment of consideration is
eliminated, the result is typically a
sweepstakes. If chance is eliminated,
the activity can be a lawful skill-
based contest. While these three
elements seem to be fairly simple
definitions, interpretation is not.
Their meaning varies from state to
state, as detailed below, and under
federal law. Not all illegal lotteries
constitute illegal gambling. Gambling
typically involves making
a wager or a bet. For certain purposes,
Congress has defined “bet or
wager” to include staking or risking
something of value upon the out-
come of a contest of others, a
sporting event or a game subject
to chance, upon an agreement or
understanding that the person or
another person will receive something
of value based on a certain
outcome. Congress excluded the
following from this definition:
“participation in any game or
contest in which participants do
not stake or risk anything of value
other than (i) personal efforts of
the participants in playing the
game or contest or obtaining
access to the Internet; or (ii)
points or credits that the sponsor
of the game or contest provides
to participants free of charge and
that can be used or redeemed
only for participation in games or
contests offered by the sponsor.”"
-http://www.pillsburylaw.com/siteFiles/Media/files/Make%20Sure%20Your%20Virtual%20Currency%20Doesn%27t%20Enter%20Illegal%20Gambling%20Territory%281%29.pdf
I also checked Forumotion's rules and regulations/terms of service:
- Forumotion's Terms of Service:
Illicit contents
Forums that does welcome or promote warez, piracy, hacking, cracking, spamming, attacks against networks or servers, pornography, racial hatred, crimes against humanity, inappropriate activities on the servers, or any other actions which violate any applicable laws, aren't allowed. Any forum which contains texts, links, pictures, animations, videos or any other content recognized as Illegal will be deleted without notice or warning. forumotion.com reserves the right to delete any accounts or forums considered not conform to the rules quoted here or specified in forumotion.com or in the international website rules according to the international internet law. Any Illegal content or act and will be reported to the concerned services and prosecuted.
Limitations of the services
The products and services can be used only in the precise way for which such products and services have been made for. You cannot use the products and services, or associate them to any content or activity which might be harmful to the any individual person's private rights :
Contents which are Illegal, harmful, threatening, improper, slanderous, vulgar, obscene or ethically reprehensible
Content which disclose personal datum that could identifies children under age of 18 or which exploit the images.
-https://www.forumotion.com/terms-of-service
Now I'm no lawyer, so I don't pretend to know every state law and regulation, but I do understand what these rules and regulations are inferring. Before going further, I want to lay out the facts on our systems right now:
1) Our Huang is an item that is awarded to a player based on personal effort, and it's only value is the reflection of 'personal effort'.
2) Our Huang is an item that is given to players free of charge.
This means that, in most places, this type of lottery would not be considered 'illegal gambling', as Congress has decreed it so. However, individual state laws are able to enforce stricter laws than Federal if they would like, effectively prohibiting such gambling.
With that out of the way, lets move on to Forumotion's Terms of Service. I put it in bold above, and I will briefly explain why I have put it in bold. The first item is put in bold because it is a broad overarching subject that is open to interpretation, and I want to make sure that everyone is aware that gambling MIGHT be considered 'inappropriate activities on the server'. Furthermore, in some places gambling is considered 'ethically reprehensible', which is why I put the second section in bold as well.
I will not stop such an event from taking place, but if the event is posted it is done so with knowledge of these possibilities.
Edit: Mind you, a lot of what our characters do on the site might be considered ethically reprehensible LOL, so I don't think they would be that hard-up on it.
